Shoe Shopping-pt 7 of the REAL World Marathon by Mari & Sammy
by sammy1026
Summary: Carrie takes Angie shopping and for a sleep over giving Steve and Catherine some alone time.


_Author's notes in previous chapters._

 **Shoe Shopping**

"Hey, gorgeous!" Carrie kneeled just inside the front door and finger waved at her goddaughter, who dropped her stacking blocks, and pushed herself up and said, "EEEE!" in a decidedly non-indoor voice.

Catherine laughed as her toddler ran with arms out towards her best friend, squealing "ReeReeee!" and Carrie, who embraced her Angie given moniker scooped her up and covered her face with kisses as gleeful baby laughter filled the air.

"Do I get a hello?" Catherine teased when Angie was settled on Carrie's hip with one arm around her neck.

"You get a hello _and_ a hug." Carrie gave her a one-armed embrace. "We…" She tickled Angie's tummy. "Are gonna have soooo much fun, aren't we? We're going shopping and we're gonna have a yummy lunch and ice cream." She grinned and nodded to Catherine. "Uncle John has Bubble Guppies and Paw Patrol loaded up for later, even though I told him she's not gonna get through more than an episode."

"Awww that's sweet…" Catherine began until Steve's voice preceded him and Cammie from the kitchen.

"Hey, how come he gets sweet and I get called …" He faked a frown. "The A word."

Catherine laughed. "Because I think you're adorable."

"Heh," he huffed, fooling no one as he obliged Angie who'd wriggled to get down, ran to him and requested, "Up, Dada."

"Are you ready for a fun sleepover with Aunt Carrie and Uncle John?" He asked while holding her above his head until she giggled.

Catherine couldn't help but smile warmly as she watched them. As their daughter's eyes lit with glee, Steve's shone with absolute love.

She refocused as the little voice said, "Ah bah. ReeRee, Dada." Angie pointed at her godmother.

"I see her." He kissed his daughter's little cheek. "Are you ready to resist this face, Stagler? Don't buy her a U-Haul full of stuff, please."

She waved him off. "We're getting shoes." She turned to Catherine. "She needs shoes, right? She outgrew all those pairs you donated."

When Catherine crossed her arms and asked, "Are you taking lessons from mom?" Carrie snorted.

"If she wasn't otherwise engaged, I'd call her for my phone a friend answer right now." She smiled at the thought. "She and Papa Rollins are hosting the whole crew tonight?"

Catherine nodded. "It was her idea. She's got new pajamas ready for Joan and the girls that pretty much match. Grace picked them out. Just about the only thing that could keep Joan away from Angie all day and overnight is a sleepover with Grace, Casey and Kaitlyn. Mary said she was literally vibrating with excitement when they got to the condo. They're ordering pizza and watching movies with Mom, Mary and Gram while they do mani pedis and then Dad and Aaron are making a huge breakfast tomorrow.

"Miss Joan is hanging with the big kids, huh?" Carrie giggled, and Angie did too. "So …" She rubbed her hands together, "While they're having their fun, my girly here and I are gonna pick out the coolest baby shoes on the island."

"She only needs a couple of pairs…" Catherine began and, seeing a gleam in her best friend's eyes that was akin to one she'd often seen in Elizabeth's, she smirked. "Not ten. Promise?"

Carrie sighed dramatically. "Promise. Promise." She hoisted the diaper bag and waved at Steve. "Grab her gear, McGarrett, and let's get this party started. She leaned in and tickled Angie then took her from her daddy and settled the toddler in her arms. "Let's go have big fun, gorgeous." She kissed Catherine's cheek and told the baby to do the same. "Kiss Mommy bye bye and let's see what kind of trouble we can make for the next 24 hours."

Delighted at the sight of her baby and best friend of more than half her life laughing together, Catherine placed a hand on Carrie's shoulder and hugged them both.

She and Steve then followed them outside and, after he checked the car seat and they both kissed Angie again, they stepped back from the car.

Before pulling out, Carrie opened the window and tossed a brown bag to Steve, which he one-handed on the fly. "Have fun," the blonde called as she donned a pair of Wayfarers and backed out carefully while beginning to sing, "Baaaaaby shaaaark do do do do do do…."

Back in the driveway, Steve opened the bag and Catherine snorted a laugh. Inside was a bottle of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and a Post-it note that read _you're welcome._

Once inside, Cammie settled on her bed for a nap and Catherine set the alarm as Steve smiled and placed the keys and syrup on the end table.

"Hey, look. We're …" He glanced at the sleeping dog with a smirk "Pretty much alone."

Her smile matched his as she stepped up to him. "Imagine that." She slid her hands over his chest.

"Enough discussion, c'mere." He linked his fingers through the belt loops of her jeans and tugged her the last few inches into an embrace.

"Here I am." She tiptoed into a kiss.

"Here you are." His lips brushed hers. "But you're overdressed."

She stepped back enough to push his t-shirt up and off. "Definitely. She kissed him again, until they needed to breathe. "We takin' this party upstairs?"

"Hmmm," he murmured as her top hit the floor. "Any chance they'll come back today?"

"And leave the awesome sleepover?" She unfastened his belt. "Never. So, we can have a pretty …" She lost her thought when his tongue traced the shell of her ear "Ohhh ... umm sleepover. An awesome sleepover of our own."

"And…" He smiled and ran his hands down her back to her butt and pulled her impossibly closer. "We don't have to keep it down to a dull roar?"

"Nope."

When she walked him backwards towards the stairs and giggled, he raised brow at her laugh.

"Sometimes that growly noise you make sounds a little like a dull roar." He smirked but his answer was lost in a moan when her hands wandered and she smiled against his lips. "That's the one."

Stepping back and smirking when she whimpered at the loss of contact, Steve gave a chuckle of his own and said, "Race ya."

Her, "Wait!" had him freezing with one foot on the third step as she bolted for the end table and grabbed the chocolate syrup. Pulling him into a kiss, she pressed the bottle into his hand and darted past him up the stairs.

In the bedroom, he dropped the syrup on the night table and crawled up beside her onto the bed.

"I won," she wriggled out of the rest of her clothes and reached for him, pulling him down as he settled against her.

Kissing her deeply, he moved his lips to her ear and whispered, "We've got all day and night. We both win."

* * *

"Look at all these adorable shoes." Carrie kissed Angie on the cheek then put her down in front of a large circular display of baby footwear. "Aren't they pretty?"

"Bah ee dah!" Angie surveyed the selection in front of her and grabbed for a pair of tiny combat-style boots.

Carrie chuckled. "I should have seen that coming."

"Usually they go for the sparkly ones," a young sales girl said with a smile as she approached. "It doesn't surprise me she went for those ones though. All things considered." The woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, knelt next to the happy toddler who was now holding a combat boot in one hand and a red ballet flat in the other. "Hello there, Miss Angie. How are you today?"

"So, you know my adorable goddaughter?" Carrie asked as Angie dropped the red shoe but held tight to the boot.

"She's one of my favorite customers," the young woman said sincerely as she beamed at Angie. "She comes in kind of regularly with her grandma. Sometimes they're buying shoes for this adorable little one but other times … well just last week for example Dr. Rollins was in here to get some of the new light up sneakers every kid on the island wants as a reward for some of her tutoring students who had gone above and beyond helping some of the younger students."

Carrie nodded. "That sounds like Elizabeth."

"She's an amazing woman. "I've been thinking about getting my master's and she's giving me all kinds of good advice about choosing the right school. She even offered to help me with my application."

"Sounds like her," Carrie said. "You should take her up on the offer. She's great at stuff like that."

"I just might do that," the young woman replied. "I'm Tamryn by the way."

"I'm Carrie. Nice to meet you." Carrie extended her hand.

"Reeree!" Angie bubbled happily.

"Or Reeree if you prefer," Carrie chuckled as she booped Angie's nose.

"Is there something specific you were looking for or just browsing?" Tamryn asked.

"Well, it appears Angie's feet have had a bit of a growth spurt," Carrie explained. "A whole bunch of her shoes that didn't fit anymore were donated to the shelter, so she needs some new ones."

Angie plopped down on the floor and tried to pull off her white tennis shoe, combat boot still in hand.

Carrie beamed with pride at the toddler's determination. "I think we'll take the boots for sure," she said. "Then let's see what else we can find."

* * *

"I wasn't sure if it would be safe to skype," Carrie snorted, "so I opted to just call instead."

Steve and Catherine, who were seated on their bed, naked, enjoying some leftover seafood salad looked at each other and smiled. Catherine's phone, set to speaker, was between them.

"You could have skyped," Catherine said, her eyes dancing mischievously, "As long as you called first and gave us a 5-minute heads up."

Carrie bark laughed. "I figured as much. I know the two of you far too well. I just wanted to let you know we are home from our shopping trip safe and sound and I did not buy Angie ten pairs of shoes."

"How many did you buy?" Steve asked.

Carrie held her ground. "Less than ten."

"How many less than ten?" he pushed.

"I will just say that I stayed within the parameters laid out for the mission," Carrie countered. "And trust me, as cute as all those shoes are, I deserve credit for that. Wait until you see the leopard print sandals."

"Leopard print?" Steve asked.

"Every girl needs a pair of snazzy sandals," Carrie pointed out. "And these ones are definitely snazzy. But wait until you see the first pair she picked out."

"Sparkly?" Catherine asked.

Carrie snorted. "Nope. Combat boots. Plus, she also really liked this pair of black high tops."

Steve shook his head. "Perhaps we should have established a mission budget."

Catherine chuckled. "I think we should just be glad Louboutins don't come in her size."

Steve's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't even know what that means."

"Don't worry." Catherine patted his leg. "That's probably for the best."

"Ok I'll let you two get back to … whatever you were doing," Carrie said. "We're going to have some dinner and we'll skype later so you can say goodnight to Angie."

"Please tell me you're not having cookies for dinner," Steve said hopefully.

"Well not _just_ cookies," Carrie teased. "I'll call later. Bye."

* * *

Several hours later Carrie texted both Steve and Catherine a picture of John and Angie sitting side by side on the couch, both sound asleep, as Paw Patrol played on the tv. Her message read, _"Looks like the two of them wore themselves out. We'll be calling to say goodnight soon, but I have to see how this ep ends first."_

Steve chuckled. "Looks like they're having a good time."

"Sure does," Catherine agreed. "So, what do you say we throw on some clothes for when Carrie and Angie call then I have a few ideas about how I might be able to wear you out," she said saucily.

"As always, Lieutenant," he growled, "I like the way you think."

* * *

 **Stay tuned. The marathon continues tomorrow.**

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